Automotive vehicles typically include some form of hazard light controller that, when activated by the user, causes lamps observable from behind the car (e.g., turn signal lamps and/or brake lamps) to enter a hazard indication mode—typically characterized by simultaneously flashing of the lamps at a uniform frequency.
Such hazard light systems are clearly useful, and are known to greatly increase the overall safety of motorists in situations where a vehicle is incapacitated on, for example, the shoulder of a roadway; nevertheless, there is still room for improvement in such systems, particularly with respect to providing motorists with additional, relevant information, such as whether a motorist approaching the vehicle from the rear should attempt to change lanes to the left or to the right. Unfortunately, providing such added functionality would traditionally require additional switches, knobs, controllers, software, and the like, unsatisfactorily increasing overall complexity of the vehicle and similarly increasing manufacturing costs.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide improved systems and methods for activating and controlling hazard flash systems in automotive vehicles using user interface components already existing within the vehicle. Additional desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.